Yes and Amen: The Promise of Salvation
Yes and Amen: The Promise of Salvation.
In Christ is found the Yes! to all God’s promises, and therefore it is through Him that we answer Amen! to give praise to God. As His Yes! and our Amen! ascend to God, we bring Him glory.” (2 Corinthians 1:20).
YES: the answer in the affirmative.
AMEN: (Hebrew, related to the root word for truth); Yes! That’s right! We agree; This is absolutely truer; This is certain; This is trustworthy and assured; So be it; Let this be true; We heartily approve; We believe this with all our heart and soul.
“May your faithful lovingkindness overwhelm me, O Lord, your salvation, as you have promised.” (Psalm 119:41).
God had promised salvation before the foundation of the world. He had planned on the world’s need for a Savior before the world was even created (1 Peter 1:20). God was fully aware, of course, of what He was getting into when He created the heavens and the earth. Because He is a God of astounding love, always reaching out to express His mercy, He knew the people He created in His image would sooner or later disobey Him. He knew that mankind’s sin would taint His image, alienate mankind from Creator God, and lead to spiritual death. God knew He would need to provide a way to rescue mankind and deliver them from the grip of sin. God knew this back before the Garden, and He promised in the Garden that a descendant of Eve would bruise Satan’s head (Gen. 3:15). God promised salvation to Adam and Eve, and God kept His promise through Jesus Christ.
In His divine plan, His promise of salvation, God knew that He had to choose a race of people who would eventually produce a Savior. God knew He would have to provide a blood sacrifice, and only His Son would be able to cleanse the world. So in the fullness of time, God sent a special messenger from His throne, an angel who would speak with the blessed woman who would bear His Son. The angel’s instructions were to call this baby boy Jesus (Matt. 1:21), because that name means Yahweh-saves. Another way of putting His name is Lord-to-the-rescue. God would Father-forth with His heavenly seed through the Holy Spirit, and the Savior-Son would be God in the flesh. This Messiah would take away the sin of the world, forgiving sins, reconciling God and mankind, restoring God’s image in man, and releasing mankind from their slavery to sin. The Savior would deliver mankind from sin’s deadly consequences. God has planned all along that salvation is secure when in union with His Son. “Surely it is God who saves me, I will trust in Him and not be afraid. For the Lord is my stronghold and my sure defense, and He will be my Savior.” (Isaiah 12:2).
Salvation comes to us in all three tenses… In the past tense, we have been saved. In the present tense, we are being saved. In the future tense, we will be saved.
We have been saved from the stain of sin in our soul, from the righteous judgment of God. In union with Christ, we have become new creatures, and we have been adopted into God’s family as His children. That’s a done deal. We have been saved from our old selves into our new selves.
We are being saved from sin’s grip on our character, from our slavery to fallen impulses and sinful inclinations. Our current life in Christ is gradually but surely transforming us, freeing us from sin’s dominion over our old life and bringing us into His light, from one glory to the next. It’s a process of being sanctified. We are being saved from sin’s consequences in our human nature.
We will be saved from a sinful world and brought into a Kingdom of God’s making, a City of light and fellowship with our God of salvation. We live in hope because of our future deliverance, a time when we are not subject to a fallen, broken world of pain, suffering and death. We will be saved as we enter the eternal City of God.